Not Impressed With 3DTV, Dan Costa At PCMag

Dan Costa is at CES 2010 and reports that 3DTV isn’t massively impressive… yet. After seeing Avatar at an IMAX, he says that the 3D effects were more of a distraction…

“More often than not, the effects distracted from the story instead of enhancing it. There was one scene where some insects buzzing the foreground really caught me, but other than that I think I would have preferred plain old 2D, as long as it included IMAX, Dolby Surround, and a really comfy seat.”

And he doubts that people will watch TV wearing the 3D glasses…

“Wearing 3D glasses is tolerable for an event like Avatar, but are the guys really going to gather around for the Sunday games wearing goggles? Probably not. Definitely not, if the effects are as poor as what I have seen so far at CES.”

OK, so not exactly a glowing review of the technology. Although, Dan does see one niche of early adopters…

“The one place I see 3D catching on faster is with gamers. Nvidia and others are pushing 3D programming into gaming and it works great. Gamers tend to be patient with new technologies, especially if it increases the realism of game play. Can you imagine a bunch of geeks huddled in front of their TVs playing “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3″ in 3D? Yeah, me too.”

And, Dan does manage to end on a positive note…

“Despite my reservations, I do think there is a future for 3D TV. It just isn’t the near future. In many ways this is akin to the early days of HD, where there were a handful of channels that a pathetically small number of people could actually watch. Who am I to argue with research firms like DisplaySearch, which predicts the 3D TV market will reach $1.1 billion in 2010 and swell to $15.8 billion by 2015. That may be, but Dan Costa Research guessestimates those sets will be showing 2D content 92% of the time they are on.”

So, like all new technology, it needs refining and for the price to drop before critical mass is achieved.